Gold – Uses and Interesting Facts

Gold as we all know is currently the most precious element in the world. Gold is very valuable metal now which is used in jewellery and for investment which was once used as primary mode of currency.

Interesting Facts Gold

Gold has many interesting facts and uses which is not known to many. Following are some of the uses and interesting facts about gold.

The word “gold” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word “gelo” which means yellow

Chemical symbol of gold is “AU” which is derived from the latin word “Aurum” which means “shining dawn”

Gold never gets rusted as it cannot combine with oxygen in the atmosphere to form its oxide

Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity and is prominently used in circuit boards featuring in electronic devices

Gold is softer than most metals and can be hand hammered into very thin wires

One of the most interesting fact is that for many years, gold has been added to food

Gold is present in a very rare quantity in the world. The world pours more steel in an hour than it has poured gold since the beginning of recorded history

Gold is among some of the only metals which has been discovered on every continent on earth

Melting point of Gold is 1064.43° Centigrade, and is chemically inert and thus does not cause skin irritation

75% percent of all gold in circulation has been extracted since 1910

Gold is an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis

Investors preserve their assets by investing in precious metals, such as gold during recession time

Greeks thought that gold was a dense combination of water and sunlight

During the fourteenth century, drinking molten gold and crushed emeralds was used as a treatment for the bubonic plaque

Gold and copper are the first metals to be discovered by humans around 5000 B.C. These are the only two non-white metals

Tiny spheres of gold are used by the Amersham Corporation of Illinois as a way to tag specific proteins to identify their function in the human body for the treatment of disease

The purity of gold is measured in carat weight. The term “carat” comes from “carob seed,” which was standard for weighing small quantities in the Middle East. Carats were the fruit of the leguminous carob tree, every single pod of which weighs 1/5 of a gram (200 mg)

In ancient Egypt, gold was considered the skin or flesh of the Egyptian sun god Ra and was unavailable to the common man

The value of gold has been used as the standard for many currencies

Gold has always been one of the prime modes of investment. Modes such as coins, bars, jewellery, Exchange Traded funds, options, futures, etc. are available for investment.

Jewellery and Money

Jewellery and money have been closely related always. For a country like India, where the precious metals like Gold is used for the manufacturing of the jewellery mainly, it is considered equivalent to money and investment. People in India always purchase gold and gold jewellery so as to park their hard earn money in a safe asset. Gold has always been thought as the safest mode of investment. Throughout history gold has been a store of value and people who are risk averse always consider it as the most sought after mode for investment. With the globalization in the economy, and the development in the capital market, Investment in gold has been made very easy by the government. The rising gold prices, many a times, became a concern for common people to invest. In order to overcome such problem and to support investment from all class of people, Gold ETF and Gold Fund was introduced. Gold is bought by the hedge funds to hedge their risk exposure and thus safeguard the investment.

It is not wrong if we say that gold is considered as the best investment option for majority of the people and its priority in investment list is increasing as the day passes.

“Gold is a shining investment and will continue to shine in future as well”

Niraj Satnalika

Niraj is an MBA in International Business (Finance). Prior to this he completed B.Tech in Electronics and Instrumentation. He is currently working with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Kolkata in capacity of Consultant.
Satnalika is actively involved with an NGO and works towards promoting education among the underprivileged.